One of the things I did during Spring Break was looking at the grants for Mineral County School District. Dismal utilization is not the only issue. There is a very clear payroll issue. I saw things that I certainly never saw in my tenure.

I would first like to say that I am disappointed in the State of Nevada. When I worked at the Mineral County School District, they never would’ve approved the creative math requirements. That is not the role of the Grants Manager. A Grants Manager shouldn’t have to show all the math on their reimbursement.

The concern I saw was that they are billing people for grants with no budget. That means charges accrue to grants that belong to a general fund or special education fund that is not accounted for, violating the law. The charges are just in some weird limbo state where I guess Mineral County School District is pretending they don’t exist.

Shockingly, the doubling of Horrible Hope’s and the finance departments has only resorted to illegal accounting. The proper way to handle the issue would be to correct the payroll to reflect charges where it belongs, not just red pen a computer report and subtract them from a billing. A grants management report is an official and legal record of expenditures. It should be correct when submitted.

I will certainly take this up with the State of Nevada. Again, it is not because of the Grants Manager but because of problems in the finance department and payroll. I have recently uncovered they aren’t even eligible for federal funds that are billed correctly, let alone when the records are incorrect.